Collision
by Mujitsu
Summary: ON INDEFINITE HIATUS!Lives that are so tightly entwined can never be completely untangled from each other. And even parallel universes, when knocked off their axis, can collide. This is the story of two worlds, bound by fate, destined for a collision
1. Equal Trade

Collision

Chapter One

Equal Trade

Parallel universe. Another dimension. The same world existing on a different plane. Society believes this to be only myth, something to fantastic to be real. But it is true that there exists something beyond this world. There is another world similar to this one beyond the gate, with only small differences. However, travel between these two worlds can only be achieved through disaster and tragedy.

The Principle of Equal Trade.

There were two brothers who lived, and almost died by this rule. To gain something, you must give something in exchange. For one boy, it was an arm and a leg. For his brother, it was a whole body. And in the end, the ultimate sacrifice was made. One gave up his life for the other.

But he did not die.

He passed through a gate. The link between two worlds. And he left behind everything he had ever known.

Until one day when tragedy struck again, and the two brothers were reunited once more. And this time the younger brother made the sacrifice. The sacrifice to leave the world he knew to be with his brother. He made the decision to forget his old life and forge a new one.

But fate is never predictable, and lives that are so tightly entwined can never be completely untangeled from each other.

And lines that are parallel, when turned off of their axis, can collide.

1916, The World Beyond the Gate

"Oi, Al, let's fight."

A young, golden-haired man opened one eye lazily to meet the golden gaze of his older brother. With a sigh, he closed his eyes again and flopped his head on the table of their kitchen. "It's too hot, Nii-san. I can barely move…and besides, don't you think it's kind of unfair now?"

Edward Elric plopped down in the chair beside his brother. "Unfair? How?"

Without opening his eyes, Alphonse lifted his arm and tapped his finger on Edward's right arm, indicating the steel beneath. "You still have your automail in this world and that's an advantage even without being able to use alchemy. But I…I don't have anything anymore. I'm just a normal human." His voice trailed off as he got lost in thought, but he seemed to shake it off. "It doesn't seem quite right to still fight when you can break a bone in my body without even trying."

Ed stared at his brother as he thought about what he had said.. It had been almost two years since they had left the world they had been born in for the last time, sealing the passage to the gate behind them so no one else would be able to use it for evil. Since then the two brother's had traveled just like they used to, trying to find their place in this new world. Eventually they ended up in the countryside, far away from the war that was now raging in the cities, in a place that uncannily resembled Rizenbool. It had been home for them for the last two months. Lately it seemed Al was missing his old life, and the old world, but Ed knew there was nothing they could do about it except forget about it and everyone there. He had distanced himself from that life.

"Ahhh, Al, you're no fun!" he said, standing up from the chair and stretching, keeping one eye on Al. His brother's face didn't change and Ed felt his mood drop. "Al…?"

The fifteen year old boy gave another sigh and cradled his chin on his arms, staring unseeing at the wall in front of him. "…Winry's birthday is next week."

Ed hid a wince. Winry….the one person he couldn't forget about his old life, no matter how hard he tried. So many what if's, and if only's with her. Blue eyes filled his thoughts, and he shook his head hard. There was no point in wishing for what could have been. He was past that. Really.

There was nothing left for him in the past.

"Next week, huh? I completely forgot." Of course he hadn't. She would have grown another year older, another year without him. Had she found someone to give her time to? Someone to care for instead of…damn it, there were those thoughts again.

Alphonse eyed him askance. "You forgot? You never forget, even when you say you do. And why are your fists clenched?"

Edward immediately let his hands relax, cursing on the inside. "Because I'm ready to spar with you. Let's go."

"Nuh-uh, Nii-san," he said, shaking his head. "Not with you in that mood."

"I'm not in a mood," Ed said, trying not to let his temper get the best of him. "I'm just impatient, and don't want to stand around talking about what can't be changed."

Al's face immediately fell, and Edward felt like a heel. "Al, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I know we can't go back. It's just…don't you ever miss it? Miss them?"

Since Al wasn't looking at his brother, he didn't see golden eyes harden almost imperceptibly. Turning around and walking away, Edward tossed back over his shoulder, "No, I don't. They stay in my past, where they belong. They can't touch me now."

Alphonse heard the front door slam, and stared at the place where Ed had stood. "You could never lie well, Nii-san," he whispered into the empty quiet.

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The transmutation circle was almost complete. And it would be perfect. After years of waiting, she would finally get to meet him.

"Emma, are you sure this is a good idea?" the young man said in the quiet hush of sunset. "Alchemy is forbidden in Lior."

"We're not technically in Lior," the girl said impatiently. "We're in the outskirts in a filthy abandoned barn because the dimwitted people in the city think that alchemy is the source of all of their problems."

"That's because it is…was the reason the city was destroyed. They outlawed it when they had to rebuild. Besides, doing something illegal isn't the only thing wrong with this." She followed his gaze to the crate of chickens squawking loudly as if cursing their fate.

But fate was unchangeable.

The boy saw his sister's eyes harden and turn back to her work. "Something needs to be given in order to get something. You know that, Patrick. A sacrifice. The Law of Equivalent Exchange."

"It still seems wrong to sacrifice them."

"The commoners were just going to eat them anyway," she said, standing up and wiping the dirt meticulously off of her hands. She turned to her brother. "Ready?"

"I still don't think this is a good idea," Patrick said, picking up the crate and gingerly placing it in the middle of the transmutation circle. It was just past sunset, making the rundown stable they were in dark and ominous. Patrick shivered in the night, although it wasn't cold. He looked at Emma across from the circle, kneeling down despite his reservations.

"Shouldn't we do a practice run?"

"Idiot, you can't do a practice run with this type of alchemy. We just need to open the gate and he'll come through."

"How can you be so sure," Patrick persisted. "We don't know what's beyond that gate. Or if we can really open it."

"I've studied the books. I _know_ he's there. He'll come through. Now, get ready."

Heart pounding in anticipation, she put her hands on the edge of the circle, waiting for him to do the same. She was too close to back down now. She was a worthy alchemist, and she had studied until her eyes felt like they would roll out of her head. All just to finally meet _him_.

The Fullmetal Alchemist. Supposedly the best alchemist in existence, not to mention the youngest. Her eyes sharpened. They would see about that.

Both teenagers held their breath as the circle began to glow with eerie blue light…

…and faded away a moment later.

Emma stared in shock in the fading light. The chickens sang their chorus to the sky, happy to be alive for another day, the transmutation circle lying harmlessly on the ground.

"It….didn't work?"

"Emma?" Patrick said, approaching his sister cautiously.

"Why didn't it work?" she whispered, and her fists clenched in the dirt. "I had it planned perfectly. It should have worked."

"We can try again later," he said soothingly. "We'll find out what we did wrong."

He gently lifted her to her feet and put his arm around her shoulders, leading her away from the circle…

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Al wasn't the in the house, but Ed knew where to find him. Even in this new world, his brother was still predictable. The creek offered comforting sounds in the darkening twilight, something the younger brother took solace in. Something to remind him of home.

Ed found him sitting by the bank, drawing in the sand. Sighing, he plopped down into the sand next to him and looked at the picture.

Al was drawing a transmutation circle and Ed felt his face fall.

"Al…" he began, not knowing where to begin. Al spoke first.

"Brother, do you remember when you asked if I hated you, back in Resembool? Because you had put me into that empty suit of armor…you thought that I would hate you for taking my life away."

"You said then that you didn't hate me."

"I was telling you the truth. I'm glad you put me into that suit of armor. I'm glad you helped me live so we could be together. I don't regret that. Just like I don't regret leaving everything behind."

"Sometimes I think you would have been better off if you would have stayed. You would have been happier and-ow!"

Al calmly took his fist off of his brother's head. "Just like I was happy without you before? Then why did I spend so much time trying to get you back? I made sacrifices then too. I wanted to be where you were, and had to give up something for it."

"The Law of Equivalent Exchange…you know that's not necessarily true."

"We've lived so long by that rule that it's still the only thing I know. People died, we lost those that we loved, but we're still together." He drew one more circle within the transmutation circle he was making and turned to Ed. "Do you know what this is? What the significance of it is?"

Ed shook his head.

"This is the circle I used in the underground city to try and bring you back. Although all of those sacrifices were made, I'm glad it worked. I'm glad I'm with you again."

"But you seem to miss everyone so much…."

Al let out a little laugh, and stood up, pulling Ed to his feet as well. "Of course I miss them! They were our family."

They started walking along the river towards the house, leaving the transmutation circle behind. "It's okay for you to miss them too. You try shield yourself, but it only hurts you more."

Ed was silent for a moment. "Maybe I do wish we could go back, sometimes."

As soon as he spoke, the hair on the back of his neck stood up, as if the energy in the air turned up a notch.

"Brother…."

He looked at Al, who was staring in shock behind them. His gaze followed, and he stopped his mouth from dropping open.

The transmutation circle was glowing blue…

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Emma had been so certain it would work. She had spent two years going over the procedure, perfecting it in every detail. They had her alchemy, they had a circle, and they had something to give in exchange.

And yet it still didn't work. She had failed. The thought of going back to study what she did wrong made her want to scream. She had done nothing wrong! It had been perfect, god damnit!

She turned to glare balefully at the circle that had failed her, and stopped in her tracks.

"Patrick, where are the chickens?"

"What?"

"The chickens. Did you let them out of the cage?"

"No, of course not. I left them on the….circle….?" He was staring now at the empty crate. The empty, _locked_, crate.

"Where did they go?" His voice shook. "They were just there a second ago."

A flash filled the room with blue light, and the siblings had to cover their eyes. The glare faded away to leave the circle glowing softly. "Is it working?" Patrick whispered to Emily.

"It's working." Her voice sounded dull with shock. "It's _working!_ Patrick, we did it!"

She laughed in glee as her eyes were glued on her circle, waiting for Fullmetal to appear. Her smile disappeared as the transmutation circle turned a bright purple, and then a dark red.

"Emma, what's happening?"

She didn't hear Patrick over the collective scream that filled the air, coming from the direction of the city. She turned and bolted out side and stared in horror at the city of Lior, the same red glow encompassing the city as the screams continued, a haunting melody.

There was a great boom in the air as the glow seemed to explode, knocking her and Patrick off of their feet to land in the dirt.

She uncovered her eyes and stared desperately at the city.

The screams had stopped.

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Back by the river, a breeze gently blew the leaves into a whispering cadence, filling the empty bank with a sweet lullaby.

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(Well, Mujitsu makes a triumphant return. Somewhat. I've been out of the writing loop so long, I think I've forgotten how to do it. I know that after I finished "Midnight Meets Moonlight" I said I would do a Full Metal Alchemist fic. I don't know if it's quite smart of me to start a long-term story now, because I'm so busy….but this one just begged to be written. I hope you liked it. I have big ideas for this one, so be patient with me. If you liked my work before, you know you won't be disappointed. And if you are…sorry.

Until next time,

Mujitsu)


	2. Triumphant Return

(Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist. All rights go to FMA's creator. I do, however, own the plot to this story. That is all.)

Triumphant Return

The air smelled stale and old, slightly damp with a hint of desolation. That was the scent that first greeted Ed's nose as he slowly faded back into consciousness and opened his eyes reluctantly. Concrete greeted him on all sides, and he sat up quickly with a gasp.

"Impossible," he whispered, staring in wide-eyed horror at the underground city he had left two years ago. There was an eerie silence, save for his rapid breath, the roar of lost souls still echoing throughout the miles of wasteland. His heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest as he realized he was back in the world he was born in. Back to where alchemy existed.

But…how?

A moan from beside him distracted him from his frantic musings, and he quickly turned around to find Al pushing himself into a sitting position, rubbing his head.

"That _hurt_," he remarked, patting the dust off his body as he stood up. He froze as it finally registered in his mind that he was no longer walking along a river on his way back home. "Ni-san?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly in disbelief and the beginning of panic. "Are we where I think we are?"

Ed sighed, dropping his head. "Yeah. We're back. I wonder what hap-GAH! Al, get off me!" He started gasping for breath as Al grabbed him around the neck and hugged him as hard as he could.

"We're back, we're back, we're back!" He chanted happily, not noticing that Ed's face was starting to turn blue from the lack of oxygen. Finally he registered what was going on when Ed was frantically pounding against his arm. "Oh, sorry! I couldn't help it!"

Ed dragged in a lungful of the blessed, though still stale, air. "Are you _trying _to kill me?!" He sighed and rolled his eyes as Al laughed nervously, scratching his head. "Anyway, how did we get back?"

Al looked serious for a second. "Someone opened the gate from this side with a transmutation circle. It reacted with the transmutation circle on our side and…."

He fell silent, but Ed knew they were both thinking the same thing. To open the gate, there needed to be a sacrifice. Since there was no sacrifice on their side, that meant that someone had sacrificed something on this side. Something big. Ed had a sick feeling that more human lives had been traded for someone to get what they wanted. How many had suffered this time? What child lost a mother, or mother lost a child? Whose life was irrevocably changed this time? When Ed found the bastard that did this, nothing would save him.

"God _DAMN_ it!" he suddenly burst out, kicking the nearest pile of rubble with his metal leg in a fit of temper. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" His fists clenched to his sides as his frame trembled. "It's always like this," he whispered. "Equal trade." He laughed humorlessly as Al remained silent.

Equal trade was such bullshit, one that he had centered his entire life around, only to realize that not everything in life was equal to something. Some things were priceless, things that could never be traded. Human life was one of them. And now another human life had been wasted.

Ed took a deep breath as he tried to calm down. Getting angry right now wouldn't help the situation. "We're underneath Central. We'll go to headquarters and find out what's going on."

"We can see Colonol Mustang and the others," Al pointed out happily as he began to head towards the place that would lead them to aboveground.

Ed's eyebrow twitched. "Great reunion."

Mustang was going to get a kick out of this.

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Being Fuhrer wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Correction: being Fuhrer wasn't exactly what former Colonel Mustang thought it was going to be. Yes, sure, he had the power to do basically whatever he wanted, including changing the dress code of the female officers (although he hadn't quite gotten the gumption to do that. Being faced with Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye would force any man to reconsider, even if he was the Flame Alchemist), but he didn't take into account all of the damn _paperwork_ that went along with the job.

"Can't we just hire somebody to do this?" he muttered under his breath as he signed a release for something or other. It all tended to fade into a blur after an hour or two. Icy silence greeted his question, and he dared a peek at his lieutenant. He pouted when he received only a glare. So she was still mad at him for not getting his work done earlier. So what if she had reminded him a week ago of the steadily growing pile on his desk, she still didn't have to treat him like such a child. He was the Fuhrer, damn it!

He started to inch his way back slowly from the desk, fully intent on making a quick escape, but the loud cock of a gun was heard in the quiet of the room and he froze. After a moment of quick deliberation, he picked up his pen again and started writing. The click that signaled he was safe came soon after, and he let out another dejected sigh.

A commotion outside of his office made his head snap up, just as Havoc burst into the office.

"Fuhrer! Sir, we just got word Lior's been destroyed!"

Full silence greeted his statement as the words slowly sunk in to those in the office.

"Would you care to repeat that, Havoc?" Mustang said slowly. Surely he didn't just hear what he thought he'd heard. The blood drained out of his face as Havoc reiterated his words.

"All of the townspeople, sir, they're all gone! Witnesses say they saw a light surround the entire city, like that of an alchemy circle, and then all of a sudden…" The man faded into silence as an undecipherable look crossed his face.

"All of a sudden what?" Hawkeye demanded, even though she had a feeling she didn't want to hear what Havoc had to say.

"Then….and then….there were…there were…"

"Spit it out, Havoc!" Mustang said, banging his fist on the desk, causing the other man to jump in trepidation and screw his eyes shut.

"The screams, Sir."

"Damn it," Roy cursed softly, and he saw the shock on Riza's face.

Lior had been destroyed. Again. In the blink of an eye, a whole city had disappeared. It seemed almost impossible that so many human lives had been taken so suddenly, but he had an inkling as to where and why they had gone. Roy had no doubt that they would not be able to come back, not unless a miracle happened. They had been sacrificed to the gate between two worlds. Like two brothers had been sacrificed before. He knew that alchemy was behind this, but what would be big enough to sacrifice a whole city? Had something gone wrong, or did they have a new enemy? If anything, he would pay. Pay for harming what Roy Mustang had sworn on his life to protect. But first, he needed to find the bastard.

"Sir?" Hawkeye said. "What do you need us to do?"

He paused briefly to give a mental thanks to his old Lieutenant. There was no hesitation on her part, and she knew him well enough to know that he would want vengeance.

"Gather the team," he said, the authority he'd seemed to be born with coating his voice, making them stand at attention. "We leave tomorrow morning for Lior to investigate what happened there. Prepare for a hunt as well. Whoever did this will not escape. Dismissed!"

"Sir!" they both saluted and began to leave his office.

They had barely opened the door that had slammed shut due to Havoc's hasty entrance than a louder commotion started.

"Good God, what now?" Roy muttered and he saw Riza's jaw drop. Now that was _really_ interesting. He walked to the doorway himself, and had to resist the urge to let his own mouth go slack.

"Colonol Mustang!" a young, familiar voice piped up as the owner of a voice walked down the hall with a sullen young man following.

"Alphonse?" Mustang said in disbelief. He looked behind the boy to see none other than Edward Elric, a scowl on his mature face. "Full-metal?"

"Don't look so happy to see us," Ed said in a sneering voice. "I don't think my heart could take it."

"But how…why?" Mustang was not one to stutter, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Full-metal and Alphonse were back in this world. It should have been impossible unless…

…suddenly everything clicked in his mind with such clarity, he blinked. "Gentlemen, in my office. Now."

Even Riza blinked at the hard tone her former Colonel had used as she ushered the two boys, no, young men, into the office she had just vacated. She closed the door in Havoc's face as he tried to follow, communicating with just a look.

Ed was looking around the office when the door closed. "Man, this is nicer than your last office. I can't believe that you actually became the Fuh-" His sentence was cut off as with one smooth move, Mustang hand a hand around his throat and his back against the wall.

"What did you do?" he asked in a low, deadly voice that made Riza do a mental doubletake. She'd never heard that tone from him before and was unsure if she should stop him…or if she could stop him.

"Brother!" Alphonse said in a panicked voice, but Ed shook his head frantically for him to stay back. The throat around his neck was firm and tight, and completely unmovable. He knew the Flame Alchemist was a formidable man, but never before had that realization made itself clear in that moment. In the same low voice he asked, "What do you mean?"

The hand tightened minutely, and Ed was finding it hard to breath. The Fuhrer's voice spoke again in that same monotone voice, signaling that the man himself was working hard to reign in his emotions, another reason to be worried. "Just what in the hell were you thinking? I thought that you valued human life, swore to protect it, and yet you sacrifice people just to make it back to this world? Thousands of innocent lives just so you could be happy…"

"What?! What are you talking about?" Ed choked out.

Mustang's eyes flashed dangerously as he gave the Full-metal alchemist a sharp shake, signaling that his patience was wearing thin. "Don't give me that bullshit! Lior's destroyed, and on the same day, you and Alphonse reappear in this world. If you think that my intelligence in low enough to not put two and two together…" His voice trailed off as Ed slumped down.

"Lior's been destroyed," he said in an empty voice, staring at the floor. Mustang noticed his hands were clenched. When Riza stole a look at Alphonse, the shocked look of disbelief and anguish on his face almost took her breath away. "So that's what happened," Ed continued on, his voice still eerily quiet and resigned. "I was wondering what had been sacrifice when we found ourselves under Central but I never thought…never thought that _that_ city would have been used again." He looked up as he was set back on the ground, almost gently. He met the now inscrutable eyes of his former Colonel, not knowing that his own eyes radiated a grief so deep it was familiar to the Fuhrer. He had felt it himself in the past.

"What happened, Ed?" Roy's anger had left him, and now he just wanted answers. 

"I don't know. Al and I were in the other world beyond the gate. Al had drawn a transmutation circle in the sand for old times sakes, and the next thing we knew, we were back here."

"It's my fault," Al said quietly. "If I hadn't drawn that stupid transmutation circle, none of this would have happened."

"No," Mustang broke in. "Someone from this side deliberately sacrificed Lior to open that gate. To bring you back, or just coincidence, I don't know, but we need to find out. I assume that you want to go to Lior with us to catch whoever did this."

Ed gave a wicked smile, and Mustang was forced to notice how much he had grown up. How much both boys had grown up. He blinked, and said in a deliberately surprised voice, "You finally got taller."

A vein popped out in Ed's forehead. "What happened to your eye patch?" he replied in kind. "I had finally gotten used to the idea of you having that awful thing."

"People heal," Mustang replied with a tight smile.

Al sweat dropped, apparently sucked out of his depression by their bickering. "Everything's still the same."

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After Riza had settled Ed and Alphonse in a spare room at headquarters, she headed back to the Fuhrer's office to talk to her commander. She found him sitting in the dark of his office with just the moonlight shining through the windows, casting him in the shadows. He had his hands folded in front of his mouth, staring moodily into nothingness. It was a look she had seen far too often, one of the few who was actually allowed to see past the mask he wore on the outside. This was the true Roy Mustang.

"I hope you're not brooding over the fact that Ed's almost as tall as you now," she said loudly, causing him to jump and stare at her. Good, she thought, don't let him get too absorbed in his thoughts where I can't follow.

"You exaggerate. If he was almost as tall as me, he wouldn't be able to walk properly with his old automail. He hasn't been tuned-up since the last time he was here," Roy said finally. There was a companionable silence for a few moments before Riza spoke again.

"Why do you think this happened, Sir? Why Lior again?"

Roy looked out the window at the moon, pensive once more. "I don't know," he admitted. That was just another sign of how much he trusted Riza...to anyone else, he would pretend that he knew everything. "I don't know if Lior was targeted on purpose, or if it was caught in the backlash of something bigger."

"Something bigger?" she said with her brows furrowed. He spared her a brief smile.

"We need to keep a close eye on Ed and Alphonse on this journey."

"Ed and Al? Why?"

"I think that someone is targeting them. Someone that purposely brought them back."

"What makes you think that, Sir?"

"I have this…feeling. Call it a hunch. But I think someone is after Ed and Al." His face showed a mild annoyance, as if it bothered him to not know why he thought that. But something had been tugging at the back of his mind and just didn't feel right about Ed and Al's appearance.

"Sir, I think that what you're proposing is impossible," she said carefully. "Even if someone was trying to bring back Ed and Al, they couldn't have possibly known that Al had done a transmutation circle in the other world. To have both transmutation circles happen at the exact same point in time…the statistics of that are almost unthinkable."

He stared at her for a long moment, making her resist the urge to squirm. Then he gave her another small smile, this one a little more…intimate, for lack of a better word.

"See that's why I like you, Hawkeye. You're not afraid to tell me when I'm wrong."

"Someone has to, Sir," she said, hoping that he wouldn't be able to see how that small smile affected her. He was just complimenting her as a fellow officer, that was it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Another moment passed in charged silence, before he seemed to blink and shake his thoughts away. Then he leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head, stretching.

"You're probably right," he said breezily. "The odds of that happening to Ed is virtually impossible. Forget I said anything."

She took that as her dismissal and stood up to walk to the door of the office. However, as she stole a glance behind her, seeing Roy's face basked in moonlight once more, mask back in place, she couldn't keep herself from opening her mouth.

"I'll keep an extra eye on Ed and Al, regardless, if it's all the same to you, Sir."

She didn't catch the expression of mild surprise, and then another small smile on his lips as she left.

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The night was late (or the morning was early) when Al awoke to find himself alone in their room. Groggily he looked around the sparse room, trying to find out where his brother had disappeared to. Slipping out of bed, he trudged to the door to look out into the hall, and sighed when he saw Ed sitting on the window sill, one leg dangling out.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

Ed didn't look away from gazing at the moon when he answered. "I'm just thinking about some things. I'm sorry if I disturbed your sleep."

Al didn't respond and Ed finally tore his eyes away from the scenery to meet the shrewd eyes of his brother. It was amazing how Al could know what a person was thinking, even if that person didn't know it themselves.

"Are you worried about what you're going to do now that you're back in this world?"

Ed laughed humorlessly. "Return to being a dog of the military, I suppose. I don't know how to be anything else but an alchemist."

"It's not just being a dog of the military. You can help people with your alchemy. I can help too, now. We'll be dogs together."

Ed smiled at his brother. "Thanks, Al. We'll do our best now that we're back, right?"

Al beamed. "Right." He walked up to look out at the starry sky, and said almost casually, "When are we going to visit Winry?"

He could feel Ed tense up beside him. "I…don't know. I haven't thought that far yet."

"Bull," Al said. "You're afraid of what she'll think now. This is the second time you've been back, but you've been gone for so long, and now you wonder if she even cares anymore." He caught Ed's scowl and knew he had been correct. His brother had always been easy to read. "You don't need to worry, you know. This is Winry, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ed said. After Al had gone back to bed, his thoughts turned to the blonde mechanic once more. Of course he remembered. He couldn't stop remembering. Her eyes, her smile, her voice…just her. He had grown up, and found himself missing her more than he thought possible. And now that he was back…

He sighed. Why did things have to be so complicated?

All that kept running through his head until he saw the beginnings of the sunrise was how Rizenbool was right on the route to Lior.

(A/N: I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. I'm not going to make any excuses, but I would also not appreciate any notes on, "jeez, what took you so long," either. Life is hard. Thank you to all who read and review this chapter. I hope to get the next chapter out sooner. I was caught on a writers block for a LONG time, and I think I'm going to get out of this soon.

Reviews are GREATLY appreciated.

Mujitsu)


	3. AN: I'm sorry

A/N:

I REALLY hate doing this, but I am going to have to put this story on an indefinite hiatus. I had all of these great ideas for this story, but as I'm writing, I realize how much they are not going to work. I feel like I'm forcing out chapters, which is really stressful. To tell the truth, I'm just not in to this story as much as I thought I was.

Like I said, I really hate doing this because it feels like a cop-out, but I don't think I can finish this story, and rather than getting people really involved in it, I'd rather just cut it out now. To any who have been watching this story, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. To those who have reviewed, thank you very much. To those who are fans of my other works, you know that this is something that I don't usually do, but I just lost the spark for this story.

Again, I apologize profusely. I'll leave this story up for a little bit so people can know why I ended it, and then I will delete it off of ff . net. And MM . org. so that I don't keep bugging you.

Thank you,

Mujitsu.


End file.
